GRAPHERGIA Abstract: Polymer Electrolyte Based Flexible Micro-Supercapacitors for Future Aerospace and Smart e-Textile Applications

In May 2025, GRAPHERGIA’s partner, the Institute of Materials Research of DLR (German Aerospace Center), presented an abstract at the 247th ECS Meeting (The Electrochemical Society), organised from 18-22 May, in Montréal, Canada. This abstract, entitled “Polymer Electrolyte Based Flexible Micro-Supercapacitors for Future Aerospace and Smart e-Textile Applications”, was presented by Dr. Apurba Ray, who is the co-author of the publication with Professor Bilge Saruhan (both from DLR, Germany). Introduction to the abstract: Advancements of ultra-thin, lightweight microelectronics, portable/wearable technologies and next-generation energy-autonomous systems have significantly increased the development for high-power energy storage systems. Similarly, future aerospace and aviation systems are looking for clean, decentralised power supplies for various quality, safety, low-cost, and system monitoring requirements. Among various energy storage systems, electrochemical energy storage (EES) devices such as batteries and supercapacitors are being widely used in multiple sectors. However, in most cases, the battery cannot meet the requirements due to its high charging time, low power density, safety concerns and limited cycle life. In the last few years, micro-supercapacitors (MSCs) have attracted considerable attention for application as flexible on-chip and microscale devices for peak power energy storage due to several excellent advantages such as fast charge–discharge rate, light weight, high power density, and long cycle-life. On the other hand, solid/gel polymer electrolytes, as an important component of supercapacitors, play a promising role in electrochemical performance.